Poisonous Concoction
Pathfinder build

Updated for Patch 3.24

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The Poisonous Concoction is a special type of ranged Attack. To use this Skill you will have to wear no main-hand weapon, but in return you will gain decent amounts of flat Chaos Damage from the Gem Levels, just like most Spells do. It will also drain your Life Flask Charges to deal significantly more Damage. Each Hit of this Attack doesn't deal that much Damage, but it has very potent shotgunning potential, which leads to massive amounts of Damage if you increase your Projectile count. Although the Skill provides you with an additional 6% Critical Strike Chance, which is unusual for an Unarmed Skill, it is much more efficient to scale it via Poisons. 

The Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing is a new Transfigured variant. As the name suggests, it will bounce in random directions a few times, based on the amount of additional Projectiles. It drains more of your Life Flask Charges but deals more Chaos Damage for doing so, and the random nature of bouncing can be both rewarding and unreliable. It has a distinguished playstyle, but scales in exactly the same way as the regular version, so you can pick whichever suits you the most.  

When looking at the skill's base attributes, you notice Flask Charges and Chaos damage - which are both what Pathfinder excels in, making it the truly best character class for this build. It also grants you Poison Proliferation, which is a very powerful tool to improve your Clear Speed even more. With Nature's Reprisal, your Wither Debuff will increase the Chaos Damage Taken by your Enemies by up to 135% instead of the default 90% and makes inflicting it much easier. You will easily reach enough Flask generation to cap your Elemental Resistances using Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz Flasks, which will also increase your maximum Resistances by 5. It will allow you to get much more Chaos Resistance or Spell Suppression on your remaining Gear pieces. 

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds at Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

This feels like a typical Ranged build that instead of firing projectiles from your Bow, makes you throw acidic flasks that apply potent Poison/DoT effects on impact with the ground. On the other hand, you benefit from amazing mobility, good clear speed, and solid single-target DPS that Ranger characters usually offer. With Pathfinder's Ascendancy, and multiple defensive mechanics this build has to offer, you can easily jump into the middle of monster packs, face-tank end-game Bosses, and smoothly progress through content, making it a very well-balanced and enjoyable character build.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling up with Poison/Ranger is easy, although you will be unable to sustain enough Life Flask charges to benefit from the extra damage added, and you will not have a limited amount of extra Projectiles, making this build feel weak initially. It's recommended to use Chaos Dot Skills with Bows and swap to Poisonous Concoction after you pick up your first Poison Chance Notables. You can find more leveling tips on our Ranger Leveling Guide with Bows/DoT in PoE.

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Skill Tree
Head towards all the important Poison Chance Notables, and grab nearby Life Notables.

73 Points Skill Tree
Pick Clever Thief for Leech, and lead towards Flask Charge Notables. Take maximum Life and Chaos Damage on your way there. 

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

106 Points Final Skill Tree (Doesn't include Passives from Cluster Jewel(s))
121 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Nature's Reprisal
2. Nature's Boon
3. Master Toxicist
4. Nature's Adrenaline

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds, 100% chance to Avoid being Frozen

Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha: Life Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds if you haven't used a Life Flask Recently

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Poisonous Concoction
	Poisonous Concoction - the primary Attack in this build. In this setup, it will throw an incredible amount of Projectiles and will have its' damage further amplified by Life Flasks with nearly endless Charges. You can also use the Transfigured Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing without any other changes to the Build​​​​​​.
	Unbound Ailments Support - greatly increases your damage with Ailments which are the main source of your damage
	Greater Volley Support - increases the number of Poisonous Concoction projectiles, which is one of the best ways to scale this skill's DPS. The Volley has a narrow spread, making it easier to overlap your explosions.
	Deadly Ailment Support - lowers your Hit Damage, but increases the Damage you deal with Ailments.
	Void Manipulation Support - increases Chaos Damage significantly, but makes the linked skill unable to deal Elemental Damage.
	Vicious Projectiles Support - boosts Chaos Damage over Time but slightly lowers your Attack Speed.

[UTILITY] Utility Gems
	Ancestral Protector - summons a Totem that will boost your Attack Speed when active.
	Steelskin - the best Guard Spell for this build which creates a protective shield that absorbs some of the incoming damage
	Automation - automatically triggers the Steelskin. You can also use the Cast when Damage Taken Support so it will trigger only when you are in danger.

[UTILITY] Auras
	Malevolence - the best DPS Aura for DoT builds which greatly increases your damage output and opens up various options on Watcher's Eye Jewel.
	Grace - increases your Evasion Rating significantly, which is one of your core defensive mechanics.
	Herald of Agony - increases your Chance to Poison enemies and the damage you deal with them.
	Enlighten Support - lowers the amount of Mana Reservation of linked Auras.
	Precision - a useful Aura that grants you an Accuracy Rating. It Reserves a flat amount of Mana depending on its Gem level.

[UTILITY] Plague Bearer
	Plague Bearer - allows you to store some of the Poison Damage dealt to gain stacks when Incubating. You can unleash the stored damage and deal it around your character, quickly killing regular enemies in the radius.
	Withering Step - grants you the Elusive buff for a duration and applies Withered stacks to enemies in the radius.
	Increased Area of Effect - optional support Gem which boosts the radius of Plague Bearer and Withering Step.

[UTILITY] Movement Speed
	Shield Charge - a very fast Charge towards the targeted location, it can be used without Cooldown, but can't travel across terrain gaps.
	Faster Attacks Support - it will make your Shield Charge faster.

[UTILITY] Curses
	Despair - a Curse that lowers the Chaos Resistance of affected Enemies, increasing the Poison Damage they take as a result.
	Temporal Chains - a defensive Curse that slows Enemies and makes other Effects last longer, which will make your Poison deal Damage for a longer duration.

5. Gear Setup

You don't need any particular Unique Item to make this Build work, although there are several items you could make great use of. You won't be able to use a Weapon, which is usually the most expensive piece of a Build. To scale your Damage you will have to rely on your Rings, Amulet, and Jewels instead. You should seek modifiers for Chaos, Poison, Attack Speed, Accuracy, or Damage over time Multiplier. Additional Gem levels are also very important, as they greatly improve the flat Chaos Damage you gain from your Poisonous Concoction. To improve your defenses you will need bonuses to your maximum Life, Spell Suppression, and Resistances. You can easily sustain Elemental Flasks, granting you extra protection against particular Elements, and a lot of Resistances, which makes your gearing process much easier. You will need lots of Strength and Intelligence on your Gear to be able to use all your Gems at their maximum levels. 

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - the best possible option for this build. Use the Essence of Loathing to obtain Mana Reservation Efficiency and look for bonuses to maximum Life, Spell Suppression, Accuracy, or Resistances and Attributes. You can also craft the Physical Damage Taken as Elemental using the Crafting Bench.

Min. requirements: 80 to Maximum Life 50% Total Elemental Resistances 8% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage Spell Suppression Chance

(Body Armour) Carcass Jack - a very solid and inexpensive Armour for this build. It grants extra Life, Resistance, and a lot of bonuses to Area of Effect, allowing you to overlap your explosions more reliably.

(120-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(50-70) to maximum Life +(9-12)% to all Elemental Resistances (40-50)% increased Area of Effect (40-50)% increased Area Damage Extra gore

(Body Armour) Dendrobate - the best Armour to improve your Damage, but only if you manage to fulfill its somewhat restrictive requirements. It also provides a bit of Elemental Resistance. You should get a Corrupted Implicit with bonuses to Gem Levels, and use Tainted Fusings to link it.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Chance to Poison (130-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +40 to maximum Energy Shield +(15-25)% to all Elemental Resistances (75-100)% increased Damage with Poison if you have at least 300 Dexterity (15-25)% increased Poison Duration if you have at least 150 Intelligence

(Body Armour) Lightning Coil - the best defensive Armour for most Builds. It grants you a lot of Physical Damage mitigation by shifting it to Elemental Damage, which you can reduce via Lightning Resistance, but you will need more of that modifier on your other Gear pieces to overcome the penalty.

Adds 1 to (20-30) Lightning Damage to Attacks (90-120)% increased Armour and Evasion +(60-80) to maximum Life -60% to Lightning Resistance 50% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Lightning Damage

(Shield) Rare Shield - you can get a lot of maximum Life and Spell Suppression Chance on your Shield. You should also seek Attack Speed and Resistance here. You can also use a Shield with a special modifier that lowers the Mana Reservation of socketed Auras.

Min. requirements: 90 to Maximum Life 20% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage 50% Total Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency Attack Speed Accuracy Rating

(Boots) Rare Boots - here you can get a lot of Movement Speed, which is vital for your Clear Speed. It should also provide you with the usual maximum Life, Suppression, and Resistance modifiers.

Min. requirements: 25% Movement Speed 60 Maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill Attributes Spell Suppression

(Belt) Rare Belt - preferably a Stygian Vise for an extra Abyssal Socket and high defensive stats. It is important to have at least one modifier for your Flask Charges. You can get a lot of Strength here too.

Min. requirements: 90 to Maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances 40 Strength Optional affixes: Flasks applied to you have #% increased Effect % reduced Flask Charges used % increased Flask Charges gained Increased Chaos Damage

(Belt) The Tides of Time - an extremely powerful Belt for most Builds. It greatly increases your Flask sustain and makes them considerably more effective. It also boosts the effect of Unique Flasks.

+(260-320) to Armour and Evasion Rating 100% increased Life Recovery from Flasks 100% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks Flasks applied to you have 25% increased Effect Life Flasks gain (0-3) Charges every 3 seconds Mana Flasks gain (0-3) Charges every 3 seconds Utility Flasks gain (0-3) Charges every 3 seconds

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - here you will need bonuses to your Chaos DoT Multiplier and Chaos Gem Levels. Other than that, try to get maximum Life, Resistances, or an empty Prefix to add Mana Cost Reduction via Crafting Bench.

Min. requirements: 50 Maximum Life 16% Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier 1 to Level of all Skill / Chaos Skill Gems Optional affixes: Attributes Accuracy Rating Elemental Resistances Chaos Damage

Recommended Anointments: Whispers of Doom

(Amulet) Replica Dragonfang's Flight - This amulet can boost levels of any Skill by 3. It also provides a decent amount of Attributes, Resistances, and Reservation Efficiency of Skills.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +3 to Level of all <Random Skill> Gems +(5-10)% to all Elemental Resistances (5-10)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills Items and Gems have (10-5)% reduced Attribute Requirements

(Ring) Rare Rings - aim to fix all your Resistances and Attributes needs here, as well as provide extra Life. You can get bonuses to Chaos Damage via Essence of Envy, ideally on a Fractured Amethyst or Iolite Rings.

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Chaos Damage Non-Channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit, with #% increased Effect Accuracy Rating

(Ring) Circle of Nostalgia - grants additional bonuses when you are affected by the Herald of Agony. Look for an increased Chaos Damage bonus and Herald's buff effect on this Ring, which you can further boost with Chaos Catalysts.

<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (15-20) to (21-30) Chaos Damage +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance <Two Random Herald of Agony modifiers>:  (40-60)% increased Chaos Damage while affected by Herald of Agony Herald of Agony has (40-60)% increased Buff Effect

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - use a pair of Rare Gloves to greatly improve your maximum Life, Spell Suppression Chance, Attack Speed, and Resistances. The Eldritch Implicits will improve your DoT Multiplier, and make Wither last longer.

Min. requirements: 70 to Maximum Life 40% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes % Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Attack Speed Damage During any Flask effect

(Gloves) Asenath's Gentle Touch - it automates one of your Curses and adds a potent source of Explosions that will obliterate packs of Enemies. However, it doesn't provide anything valuable for Single-target encounters, and you will lose a lot of Spell Suppression Chance.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(60-80) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Mana Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit, with 40% increased Effect Non-Aura Curses you inflict are not removed from Dying Enemies Enemies near corpses affected by your Curses are Blinded Enemies Killed near corpses affected by your Curses explode, dealing 3% of their Life as Physical Damage

(Jewel) Abyssal Jewels - you are most likely going to use a Stygian Vise, so you will be able to use an extra Abyss Jewel. It's best to look for one with bonus Life and missing Attributes or Resistances. You can also try to get one that prevents Corrupted Blood debuff on you.

Min. requirements: 35 to Maximum Life Missing Attributes/Resistances Optional affixes: increased Damage over Time Accuracy Rating Attack Speed Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - on regular Jewels you want extra Life and Chaos DoT Multiplier, Poison Damage, or Poison Duration bonuses. You can also get some Resistances and Attributes here as well.

Min. requirements: 6% Maximum Life +#% to Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier Optional affixes: Attributes Increased Damage with Poison Poison Duration Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - you should use one Large Cluster Jewel with 3 Chaos Damage Notables to significantly improve your Damage, the choice here is rather limited. You can also include the Unspeakable Gifts to get Chaos Explosions.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Touch of Cruelty 1 Added Passive Skill is Unholy Grace 1 Added Passive Skill is Wicked Pall 1 Added Passive Skill is Unspeakable Gifts

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - you can use two Medium Cluster Jewels that offer extremely strong Notables for this Build. The Circling Oblivion provides the most Damage, as it also improves the Duration of your Poisons, while the Brewed for Potency improves your Flask sustain on top of the minor Damage increase.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Brewed for Potency 1 Added Passive Skill is Circling Oblivion

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - one of the best Jewels in the game, which is used by the majority of builds that use any Aura. You want Watcher's Eye with Malevolence modifiers - preferably Damage over Time Multiplier on it.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended modifiers: +(18-22)% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence (30-50)% chance to Blind Enemies which Hit you while affected by Grace +(12-15)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace

(Jewel) Ancestral Vision - with this Jewel you can easily achieve Elemental Ailment Immunity if you get the proper modifier on your Boots and cap your Spell Suppression Chance.

+(5-10) to Dexterity Modifiers to Chance to Suppress Spell Damage also apply to Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments at 50% of their Value

(Flask) Taste of Hate - a great defensive Flask that improves your Cold Resistances and Physical Damage mitigation by shifting it to be taken as Cold Damage instead.

(10-15)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Effect Gain (10-15)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage during effect 30% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Effect 30% chance to Avoid being Frozen during Effect

Other suggested Flasks: Divine Life Flask with increased amount recovered and Bleed removal Ruby Flask with Evasion Rating bonus Topaz Flask with Attack Speed bonus Quicksilver Flask with Movement Speed or Stun Avoidance bonus

If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.